Tim, yes Fisk is the catcher. Catching is probably the weakest position on the team, historically to me. I couldn't find many worthy candidates other than Fisk and Tek. I found the much maligned Wendell to be fairly amusing with his waving arms. He was pretty respected when he was with the Giants, I recall.

OK, I'm WAY late due to my travels, but I'm doing this without reading anyone else's lineups, so apologies if repetitive. My philosophy was to take the best of the best over a set period of time with the Sox for 5+ years and that those were productive years during their career. For OFs I put them where I think they could play even if not their position with the Sox. Also did this with my father on the phone and we debated present versus past a great deal.

A lot of good responses so far... I'm not sure I have a lot to add, but here goes:

C Fisk1B Foxx2B Doerr3B BoggsSS NomarLF WilliamsCF LynnRF EvansDH MannyComments: I tried to stay true to my picks from Tim's all-time batting order question, but the thought of having Manny as the DH and still have Williams, Lynn & Evans in the OF makes me giddy.

SPs: PedroClemensYoungWoodRuthComments: Imagine having Ruth on the bench to pinch hit during off days... not a bad option.

RPs: RadatzEckPapelbonLyleStanleyWakefieldComments: I just love the thought of throwing Wake out there for an inning or two between Eck and Paps. The hitters would be twisted up like pretzels.

Bench: SpeakerVaritekRemyEllsburyDiMaggioComments: I just deleted Jim Rice to make the #... can't believe he's not on there, but I'm sticking with this crew.

Manager: FranconaBench: MillsPitching: Bill LeeHitting: Hriniak1st & 3rd: Two of the players who aren't playing that day (little league rules).

Loving these rosters, guys -- and especially the Speaker shout from Aaron.

That said, Aaron, it would be hard for me to disagree more strongly with your explanation about Varitek over Fisk. If we're talking about starting pitchers (Schilling) or workhorse playoff relievers (Rivera), I'll at least entertain the idea that there's a special quality to postseason performance that makes a huge difference between players.

But in this case we're talking about two catchers, either of whom would be hitting well down in this lineup, both of whom handled pitchers well, both of whom were good teammates. (Right? Educate me if I've missed something about Fisk.)

Put it another way: it's not Fisk's fault that the Reds beat the Sox in that Series, and it's not *all* to Tek's credit that the Sox won in '04 and '07. Unless you're talking about Bench's role in the Big Red Machine, the catcher's spot just isn't *that* important, and Tek's two rings shouldn't be used as a trump card to select him ahead of a superior player.

Comments: As I said, not a lot of new ground covered here. I love the combo of Francona & Dick Williams. This could be the ultimate good cop, bad cop scenario. If Manny made the team, it would've been interesting. He did not, so don't need to worry about that problem.

Some of these selections (Gordon, Lonborg) were very good for shorter stretches than others, but there's some gray area in these lists always. I don't think I saw a Jimmy Piersall on anyone's list. Gotta have one guy (besides Bill Lee) who's a loose cannon, and he also happens to be one of the greatest outfielders we've ever had by all accounts.

It's tough to have Yaz at first, but you have to defer to Ted in left. I'd have loved to work Bill Mueller in here somewhere, but we'll just say he's special assistant to the GM or something. And I agree w/ Doug...Radatz would pwn Papelbon.

As far as base coaches go, I don't think I have enough of an opinion on that to say anything other than Not Sveum and Not Kim.

Agree w/ Tim about vtek vs. Fisk. Interesting also that very few players from '04 & '07 make my list. And NOBODY in the starting lineup!

[Grumpy Old Fan] "I don't like things now compared to the way they used to be...farble-dy floooo!" [/Grumpy Old Fan]